Test games played

[Seravy]

Earth Elementals, Colossus, webs, and generally avoiding fights with more than 1-2 wyrms I guess? Not entirely sure...
I don't think he'll have that many to have large stacks of them, maybe one or two at most...

I traded Earth Gate, that should ensure the garrison levels stay equal in all cities, so there shouldn't be a large amount of them in one place. They also don't make doomstacks unless they are enchanted by waterwalking.

[Seravy]

Hero 4 is ready.
   

Time to dismiss the Huntress and see who we get for our 5th hero.

Meanwhile Seravy eliminated Satori from the game. I guess I won't be getting score for that, not that I expect to get a good one for this game anyway.

...and our 5th hero will be...the Chaos Warrior. Another spellcaster... at least this one can fight in melee if she really wants to. 

Fairy Ring is ready, and my skill is already reaching 400 so I'm expecting some free colossus from it.

In fact, Seravy is ruthless, so he won't keep more than 1 Wyrm per city, and if Jihad activates, that can go down to zero. As long as I stay in a safe distance from his larger Wyrm stacks, it should be safe, and I have Seismic Mastery up to see all of his units.

Nyaruko is ready...
   

Before I dismiss the armsmaster and fill the last slot, I'll get some colossus ready, and set up Herb Mastery and Survival instinct so the first 5 heroes can keep getting exp.
...maybe I should keep her? If I don't get a melee hero from the last summon, I won't have anyone to use that sword.

[Seravy]

...oh great another bugged item slot. Didn't I fix this last night? Oh, the item was already broken by then...
Good thing this is easy to fix with the tweaker...

[Seravy]

12 colossus done. I'm having doubts about casting Regeneration, don't think anything besides wyrms can even kill one. 
For now I'll summon the last champion.

The Paladin! Finally!

Seravy seems to also have Behemoths now, good news as those are much less threat to my strategy.

I'm maxing skill to make Fairy Ring better and also to be able to summon more Colossus later. This means Research of Entangle+Call Lighting will take about 30-40 more turns, so plenty of time to prepare. (not to happy about the thought he'll be able to summon 40 more wyrms though.)

Completed all heroes and equipment.
   

I guess next is casting Regeneration on the Colossus and summoning a few extras, then organizing the garrisons, distributing all the random things I got from Fairy ring, etc... 29 turns to research the combat spells, maybe I should accelerate it a little? Don't think I really need 29 more turns to prepare albeit... I guess I wanted a 3rd stack so might as well.

[Seravy]

The maintenance cost on these colossus and other summons starts to get prohibitively expensive.
It isn't a problem if I switch to mana production I guess, but while I'm operating on gold alone, I can only afford like 1-2 more stacks worth of them. I'm planning to switch to mana production anyway a few turns prior to the war so I don't need to worry.

There aren't as many things appearing from Fairy Ring as I expected, so Seravy isn't summoning all that much Wyrms and Behemoths. Must be the Artificer making him waste several turns on artifacts.

I'll probably stop skill production at the 450 or 480 mark as Fairy Ring improves at each 30 skill.

I wonder what very rares he got, haven't seen any globals aside from Herb Mastery. So in Nature he has that, the two summons, and one more unknown spell, but I haven't seen a single Life very rare and he should have 4 of them. He probably has mostly combat spells - High Prayer, Supreme Light, Call to Arms, etc...
oh I did see one, Consecration, I just forgot about it as it's not relevant to the current game.

o_O 2 free colossus this turn, nice.

Okay, I'm going to need a plan for this :
   
I bet those are Wraith Form enchantments. That's a problem, it prevents Entangle from working against them...
It's fairly close to my fortress so I can at least be sure that's where they'll be going, question is, what defense to prepare against it. 9 Wyverns? Flight is good but what kills the Wyrms, only the lightning? No time for that, he most likely has 9 webs worth of mana :D
Can 9 Colossus defend against that I wonder? I get the first turn so rocks should destroy at least 2-3 wyrms but still probably not good enough. Maybe I should smash into the stack with several stacks of 9 Wyverns and spam Earth Elementals while he is busy webbing. Yeah, that's the plan. Wyvern production on!

450 skill done. 19 turns on research, but after seeing that stack I'm sure I need those turns to prepare. 1.8 skill production/turn. Looks like I'll be going for the 480 then.

...or not. WTF. It's 1423!!!
   
Okay, I guess he does have Sage Master but even with that it's really early for it...

So, his capital is 7 Wyrms, a Behemoth, and a Soul Linker hero...
Okay, my hero stack isn't suited for fighting that, so I'll need to do something else.

...I haven't yet dispelled his Herb Mastery, I haven't yet dispelled Survival Instinct, I don't have enough Wyvern stacks, I haven't stocked up on mana either. I don't even have Call Lightning, only Entangle...
I predict this will be a loss.

I need to know whether he knows Regeneration or not. If those are Regenerating Wyrms, there is no way Wyverns can wear them down with multiple attacks.

Okay, first priority, dispel Herb Mastery, that provides the most advantage in combat.

Hey, I want to offer spells for tribute for such an amazing wizard, do you need Regeneration? Yes? Entangle too? Umm maybe I will let you have them if you cancel the Spell of Mastery and never try casting it again. No deal?

Okay so we know the Wyrms are not regenerating. That's very good news. All Wyverns head towards Myrror immediately! ...I'll need to replace the spot in the garrisons with the fairy ring creatures.

Wait, how much resistance do Wyrms have again? 14... and no Prayermaster in his capital. But he might have High Prayer...probably does. I don't think I can rely on the Holy Word trick, even at -8 it wouldn't be enough, also no way to keep that hero from getting webbed or eaten... If I had a flight wraithform accessory then I could... but the save modifier isn't enough.
What I really don't like is, the Beastmaster can cast web so he can web two Wyverns a turn if he really wants to. Only 4 turns of summoning Earth elementals won't be killing that many Wyrms.
Also I need to coordinate the attack to a single turn, otherwise the Earth Gate refills the city.

[Seravy]

If all wyverns hit his capital, what will intercept the Wyrm stack? Problems...
I guess I can do Move Fortress and let it rampage through an unimportant city instead...

While he is trying for Spell of Mastery, he can't recast globals, that's good news...

No city enchantments relevant to combat, besides Heavenly Light. Yeah. Life and Nature doesn't get those...

The unblocked tower is kinda far but I have a bunch of Draconian Airships ready from that once city Satori stole from Seravy so it shouldn't be a problem to carry the units. The more time he spends on SoM the more skill he wastes, so I don't need to be overly quick, as long as the attack is successful.

I maxed research, so only 4 more turns to Call Lightning. I can't hope to defend my cities without that.

Dispelled his globals.

My heroes and 2 stacks of colossus are also heading towards his capital.
The rest stay behind to defend mine.

Meh, I could have used Earth Gate to teleport units closer to the tower. Doesn't matter, I needed time to dispel, set up city garrisons, research and so on.

Surprisingly he started to lose graph strength. I guess that means we've reached the max unit cap? At the very least, his cities are already maxed out and can't grow further.

Even with a skill of 500 he needs 30 turns to cast Spell of Mastery, I have plenty of time.

Call Lightning researched, time to max mana. Btw, give me Wraith Form...for Stone Giant I guess? Better to face them than Wyrms... It's not like you can cast any right now anyway.
If I put Wraith Form on all the Wyverns, they can't be webbed and I get to stall and summon elementals to kill wyrms much longer. Sounds like a plan. Uh, it's expensive, I can only do 6 each turn.
5 stacks of 9 Wyverns for his capital, one to intercept the doomstack, I had more than I thought. Buffing them all up will take a while. I also have the 9 colossus stack, and the two hero+colossus stacks ready.

Wyverns that can't be webbed+call lightning sounds a pretty amazing counter to a life/nature wizard who didn't get arcahngel, angel or colossus. Even without Earth Elementals it should be damaging, in the worst case if I can't afford the mana costs. He has a huge amount of units so I likely can't use 450 worth of elementals every battle, especially not with a range penalty. Maybe I should consider moving my fortress? I have a city right in the center of the area where he has the most units. Nah, the battles will be in my cities, not in his territory...

Based on the graphs it has been about 12-15 turns already. At most 5 more and I should attack. I need exactly 5 more to buff all the wyverns, perfect.

[Bahgtru]

The problem I perceive is more specific. By the time the peace treaty expires, they'll have at least 2-3 full stacks roaming around, and exactly because of  the peace treaty, you haven't killed these even when they entered your territory. You don't know the exact turn when the treaty expires, so this ultimately sets you up for a "yes so now that stack of 9 ghouls/hounds/bears/whatever is attacking my pop 24 city defended with 3 spearmen, 2 catapults and a magician, and razes the city" because you can't realistically put 9 hordes in all your cities during the ~20 turns the treaty lasts, especially if you're also doing a war elsewhere, or are still building up basic economy buildings and don't even have a fighter's guild or something equivalent. Ultimately, if you did ask for the treaty that meant you didn't have enough troops to deal with the war, so full garrison won't happen. This is more of a problem in the first half of the game - past that, you can likely defend anything through combat spells against a wizard that weak, and your garrisons should be better too.

I haven't really found strategic strength to be a problem - the things with high strategic strength are either prohibitively expensive to have everywhere, or really vulnerable to fire storm due to high figure count. You need really specific strategies for it to work that well - at least Warlord for extra health at elite, probably more. (Or for Life wizards, vulnerable to Dispelling Waves instead)

Eh, that would be why I

block AIs creating borders

See the poll I made some time ago.


The only alternative for me is attacking first with a decapitating blow. A banished wizard's stacks hurt less. Granted, that's not always possible.

On the other hand it's kind of karmic that AIs can use peace treaties to sneak units on your continents too.

Supply commander. That's kinda amazing with Stone giants. If the hero survives the first turn which they probably won't. I wonder if I should try using it.

I think that supply commander's ammo doesn't need the hero to survive. I use it with ghouls, it unexpectedly makes the orc archer one of the best initial heroes to get for death.

[Nelphine]

I take it we made it so overland casting bonus doesn't apply to SoM? Makes sense but I forgot that.

And yeah sagemaster is huge. Myrran (fewer wars and increased power production) + sagemaster, and I could see an expert ai getting it by 1420 - yours had a decent size war, so pushing it back a few years makes sense.

[Seravy]

I take it we made it so overland casting bonus doesn't apply to SoM? Makes sense but I forgot that.

Yes, it doesn't apply to SoM and SoR.

This was the first time I saw the AI activate the "research SoM fast" tactic so it was unexpected. I pretty much forgot they have that...

[Seravy]

Time to strike!

5 stacks of Wraith Formed Wyverns, 2 stacks of Hero-Colossus mix.

The Behemoth is undead, it has Blood Lust on it. He does have High Prayer. The Wyrms have Land Link, Iron Skin, Invulnerability, Wraith Form and +2 To Defend (prayer and soul linker)

The Soul Linker is like a god, +7 To Hit, +2 To Def, Haste, all the buffs you can find in Life and Nature, her bow has Holy Wordx1 in it, and she hold the real Mystic Silver Crystal, one of the best predefined accessories.
   

I'm actually worried - Earth Elementals might not be able to damage Wyrms that powerful. I obviously has no way to hurt the hero at all either. Considering he is a Life wizard, Healing is expected...
I won't even bother casting Call Lighting here. Armor Piercing or not, there is no way those strength 12 bolts will damage 18 shields with +2 To Def in a meaningful way.

Here goes, Earth Elemental 1.... The Wyrms are not coming out. I thought they are set to always leave walls? Or is it because I have zero ranged units? Even then... okay this is a problem, the Behemoth started the battle with Terror so the elemental can't move, it'll be probably dead before it reaches a Wyrm.
Plan B... Crack's Call spam. You can't heal that and your defense helps you not! Unless you have Exaltation...
19 shots/battle should be plenty. Wait, it has no effect on Merging or Wraith Formed units, we need something else.

The hero! If I dispel Wraith Form from it, I can use Crack's Call there. Same for the Behemoth...
Well that's a plan I guess, I have nothing to hurt the wyrms... maybe if I cast Call Lighting then they come out and attack the elemental? Let's see, with those stats, it'll do 3.5 damage on average, no that's not helping. The hero needs to die first. Okay, 5 max strength dispels but the Wraithform is gone.
He is healing her with Exaltation... I'll need to hits in a row, or at least with less than 3 misses between them. 
Nice, success!

Okay, hero is gone so everything is down to +1 To Def. Oh they still have Invulnerability, so 12.5-9.2, I'll be doing 3.3 damage per attack ewww...
Only 7 Wyrms though, maybe it's worth dispelling each, one at a time... I only need each to lose one of the two buffs to be able to deal acceptable damage to them...
Okay, 3 dispels removed nothing. First Wyvern stack dead. But the hero is gone, that's huge progress.
Not sure what I'll be doing with the Wyrms though... wish I had the Sage hero right now...

I could spam Reaper Slashes, they are barely but stronger than an Earth Elemental's attack. The Elemental might get the chance to hit twice though.
Oh, I need one Wyvern to die before I can summon. They aren't really dying anymore without the bow hero shooting at them...
I decided to Crack's Call the behemoth while waiting for an empty slot, and I got two hits in a row, so that's gone as well. All that's left are the 7 Wyrms. Also he summoned a Paladin so that's one of his spells.
These are totally not dying, so dispelling time... Might as well try Call Lightning to see if it's really doing no damage... yeah it doesn't do any.
Let's try some Reaper Slashes before the dispels. 1 damage, 0 damage, not working.
Ok, Earth Elemental time. Two of them did a total of 6 damage. This isn't going to go past healing spells, I'll need to dispel.

Dispelled 1 Iron Skin, 1 Invulnerability, but out of skill. Let's see, if I flee now, I lose 50% of the Wyverns, if I wait, 11 more turns of lightnings and other spells. I have Herb Mastery so waiting is on my side I think.

Lightning actually did like 1 damage to each Wyrm over 24 turns. Not really worth it...
I think if I can reduce the number of Wyrms to like 4, I'm good with the 9 colossus stack. Otherwise I'll need to sacrifice it... 4 Wyverns survived.

3.rd Wyvern Stack... eh, I should probably use 4-5 Wyverns at the time not 9 from now on.

Better luck on dispels now, got rid of quite a few of the buffs. He is recasting the combat versions though...

2 Wyrms dead from the Earth Elementals. Nice to see they are also getting hurt from Lightning now that each of them lost at least Iron Skin or Invulnerability, some both.

Out of Wyverns but he is down to 2 surviving Wyrms, and they are wounded.
I'll use the stack with the 4 heroes and 5 colossus, to let them gain exp, this much should be easy for them. Used up like 7k mana on these battles alone.

Victory! He is banished!

All that's left now is, staying alive and destroying his remaining cities... I have 20k mana which feels entirely too little considering how much units he has on the map.

The other hero stack with 7 colossus should...wait, you guys can't move on water yet.
Uhh there is a 6 wyrm 1 hero 1 gorgon stack on this island. Let's try not to fight that...

I also need to intercept the doomstack on my plane...